Saving Veronica
by TheChosenOne3
Summary: When the men are away the women will play, or not.


Disclaimer: I'm going to be upfront and honest; I don't own TLW or any of its absolutely charming characters. There you happy now? You had to go and crush a girl's hopes and dreams.  
  
Saving Veronica By: TheChosenOne  
  
It had been a relatively quiet day. Malone, Challenger, and Roxton had left for the Zanga village that morning. Of course Marguerite and Veronica had to politely smile when they started issuing out orders like, "Stay together." "Keep the electric fence on." and their favorite "Be careful." The girls knew that just smiling and nodding would get the men to leave faster than arguing would.  
  
In truth they had both been looking forward to a day without the men around. It had been a while since it was just Marguerite and Veronica in the treehouse. The last time began with a huge fight and ended with them getting stuck down a dried up well. Things had changed since then though, namely their relationship. Since their first year Veronica and Marguerite had both become pretty good friends. They enjoyed spending time with each other.  
  
The day before they left Challenger mentioned wanting to go to the village to ask their healer some questions about how to cure certain illnesses, Malone said something about doing some research of a Zanga legend he had heard the last time he was there, and Roxton expressed a desire to go out on a two day hunting trip with the Zanga hunting party, so Marguerite suggested that they all three go stay at the village for a few days.  
  
Initially the men protested while Veronica agreed. Roxton and Malone tried to get the girls to accompany them with promises of new material and visiting time with Assai. Marguerite and Veronica easily turned down the invitation. When the men suggested that at least one of them stay behind with the women, Marguerite used a powerful negotiating tactic, her temper.  
  
"Are you three standing there trying to tell us that we are incapable of taking care of ourselves without a big strong man there to make sure we don't hurt ourselves? Well I'll have you know that both Veronica and I have been taking care of ourselves long before you three came along and we will continue to do so in your absence." Marguerite's tirade had gathered steam while she was venting. All three men began to shrink back from the terrifying woman, while Veronica stood behind her, hardly able to suppress the laughter that was begging to be let out.  
  
The three men looked at their feet and mumbled apologies and "you're right." Marguerite smiled her approval and looked back at Veronica who mouthed, "Nice job." Marguerite then turned back to the men and sent them to get their supplies ready. They decided the next morning the men would go on their trip for four days, not an hour later.  
  
So the men left and Marguerite and Veronica were now enjoying the quiet in the treehouse. There was no tinkering from Challenger's lab, no scratching from pen on paper, and no noise from someone disassembling and reassembling the guns. They relaxed all morning, drinking tea and talking about how quiet it was without Challenger, Roxton, and Malone.  
  
After lunch the two decided to go down to the lake and do some laundry. As much as they wanted to enjoy some "girl time," if they didn't do some laundry the explorers would be out of clothes by the end of the week. They went and gathered all of the clothes the men didn't take as well as some of their own.  
  
The walk down to the lake was made with small talk and laughter. When they arrived each set about washing her own load of clothes. There was the occasional teasing about who was washing who's unmentionables. Half way through their washing session the wind began to pick up, making it a bit more difficult to keep hold of the dry clothes. So Veronica just threw what she had left into the water then got herself in right along with them. Marguerite laughed at her younger friend's "solution," but Marguerite was adamant on remaining dry. The wind finally succeeded and grabbed one of Malone's shirts from Marguerite's pile. She sighed, quickly finished her pile, and then went after it. She told Veronica she would be right back, and then went to retrieve the lost shirt.  
  
Veronica watched Marguerite leave the clearing from the water. She laughed at Marguerite muttering about how "Malone had better be grateful." Veronica continued to wash her clothes while keeping a weary eye on Marguerite's clothes, making sure no more clothes got away. She heard a twig snap; she tensed then figured that it was probably Marguerite returning from her little excursion. Veronica got out of the water and put her now wet and clean clothes in the basket, her back to the direction Marguerite was returning from.  
  
"Was your hunting trip successful?" She teased without turning around.  
  
"It is now." A deep gruff voice answered behind her. Before she could turn around, something hit the back of her head and the world around her faded into black.  
  
Six men, slavers to be exact, smiled and congratulated each other on the prize catch. Then one man picked Veronica's unconscious body up and slung it over his shoulder.  
  
"You know Barbus isn't going to like that bump she will have on her head." One of the men commented as they headed back to their camp.  
  
"Her hair will cover it when it stops bleeding and no one will know the difference." The leader of the small group said. The others laughed in agreement and followed him a way from the lake.  
  
Marguerite was crouching in the bushes watching and listening. She had found the run-away shirt and was on her way back to the lake when she heard strange men laughing about something. So she slowly approached, making sure to stay out of sight, and watched them carry Veronica away. She noted that Veronica was unconscious and that the men didn't seem too interested in covering their tracks, so following them would be no problem.  
  
But she couldn't take them by herself, the men were too far away to get to them in time, and she wasn't even sure she could count on Veronica to be in a condition to help. At least she knew they wouldn't hurt her. Their camp couldn't be too far away, it was getting dark. They looked to be a small scouting party and since there was no base of operations around here, Marguerite figured she wouldn't have to worry about more than ten men.  
  
Marguerite looked around, trying to find anything that could help her. Her eyes were finally drawn to the shirt in her hand and an idea popped into her mind. 'I just need a few things from the treehouse.' She ran back to the treehouse as quickly as she could. She ran into Malone's room, then quickly into her own room. She took a little while changing and grabbing things from here and there. On her way out, as an afterthought, she grabbed her rifle and wrote a note to the boys simply saying:  
  
"Veronica got captured by slavers, no time to go find you. I have a plan. If it doesn't work I'll leave you a trail so you can find us both. Wish me luck.  
  
Marguerite"  
  
Then Marguerite ran out after her friend, praying that her plan would work. She quickly found their trail and followed it to the campsite. She felt ridiculous, dressed the way she was. But it was the only way she could think of to help Veronica without getting captured herself. 'Here goes nothing. Could this day get any better?'  
  
Veronica was just rejoining the world of the conscious. She shook her head to try and clear it when she realized that she just made matters worse. She took a deep breath and the pain receded, a little. She looked around and realized she wasn't at the treehouse. 'The pond.Marguerite!' Veronica figured that she was captured by slavers but where was she?  
  
"Where's my friend? What have you done with her?" Veronica began to struggle helplessly against the rope that tied her hands behind her back. She was frantically searching for any sign of the dark-hired woman, but could not find any.  
  
"You were found alone and we took you alone." Answered one of the men who were sitting by the fire. Veronica looked around and counted six men. 'Great. I get captured and Marguerite gets away. She can't take all of them, even with her rifle. And the men aren't due back for another three days. This is just perfect.'  
  
The men continued to talk, laugh, and drink around the fire. The only time they even acknowledged Veronica was to make rude or suggestive comments about her. Veronica ignored them and tried to find a way, any way, to get herself out of this. 'Malone, Challenger, and Roxton are never going to leave us alone again.'  
  
It was then that she noticed that a seventh man had suddenly joined the others. But he was dressed differently from the other men. If she didn't know better, she would swear he was wearing Malone's clothes. But it couldn't be because this man had dark hair and was slightly shorter than Malone. He was awfully skinny man too. He even had a black rather odd mustache. He was wearing a hat and rifle like Marguerite's. Wait a minute.they weren't like Marguerite's.they were Marguerite's. 'She wouldn't.' Veronica got as close to the men as she could without being obvious and listened to what they were discussing.  
  
"You want her? But we haven't even gotten to our main camp yet. Our boss, Barbus, insists that all selling be done with him." Said the lead slaver.  
  
"I'll tell you what. You give her to me and I will give you all of the gold and jewels I brought with me. Trust me there is far more there than you would get for her with that gash across her head. You don't even have to tell Barbus. There is enough here for all six of you to split." The man's voice was oddly deep and still had a hint of an accent.  
  
The leader still looked a bit skeptical, but his men had already dug into the bag that the new guy held out. Their greedy eyes grew wide at the treasures and they urged their leader to agree that it was a good deal. After a few minutes of contemplation, the leader agreed and walked over to Veronica. He did not untie her hands, he simply pushed her towards the short man.  
  
"Here you go sir, it was a pleasure doing business with you."  
  
Veronica and the dark-haired man walked away from the campsite silently. The man had a hold of Veronica's arm. They didn't stop until they were far away from the campsite and the men in it. The man then cut Veronica's bindings.  
  
"Thank you." Veronica was cut-off when her savior said, "Let's get going before they decide that they want more." They continued straight on to the treehouse.  
  
They were laughing when they got to the top of the elevator only to be faced with three men with a mirage of emotions on their faces, including concern, anger, and relief. Malone walked up to Veronica and embraced her then checked her over to make sure she was alright.  
  
"I'm alright, Ned. Just a small bump on the head. You guys were supposed to be gone for three more days."  
  
"Well you see, my dear, Malone and I got the information we were looking for in the first hour or so we were there. And Roxon found out that the hunting party had already left and wouldn't be back for a few days, so we decided to cut our trip short." Challenger explained, checking Veronica's head himself.  
  
"And it's a good thing we did. We found Marguerite's note and were just about to come looking for you two. Where is she and who is this?" Roxton asked alternating between giving Veronica a questioning look and eyeing the stranger.  
  
"I'm right here John." The man removed his hat and mustache and revealed Marguerite smiling at their surprised looks. Veronica burst out laughing at the faces on the men.  
  
"I had to borrow your clothes Malone because Challenger's and Roxton's are too big. Speaking of clothes we left them down by the lake" She said turning to Veronica so she could hide her smile from the men.  
  
"Wait a second. You took my clothes, dressed up as a man, and followed the slavers? How did you get Veronica back?" Malone couldn't decide whether he was more amused or intrigued.  
  
"Oh I gathered some of my jewels and bought her back." Marguerite explained to her stunned audience.  
  
"My dear your creativity and resourcefulness are absolutely amazing." Challenger praised and hugged Marguerite and Veronica to either side of him.  
  
"Yeah that was pretty quick thinking ol' boy." Malone hit Marguerite on the shoulder in a true manly fashion. She smiled at him then looked at Roxton. She didn't know how he was going to react.  
  
"Marguerite you could have been found out and captured too!" He exclaimed.  
  
"That's why I left a note. What did you want me to do Roxton? Wait for three days for you guys to come home and simply hope that they didn't do God knows what to Veronica?" Marguerite was shocked that he was angry with her for saving Veronica's life.  
  
"Well no but."  
  
"John, thank you for your concern, but I am fine, we are all fine." She raised a hand and stroked his cheek. He smiled down at her and pulled her into a hug.  
  
"I must say, I never would have thought of that. It was very smart Marguerite." Roxton said pulling back to look into her eyes. She smiled at him, then turned back to the rest of them.  
  
"I'm starving, who wants to cook dinner?" She said. Roxton and Malone volunteered to cook dinner and Challenger offered to set the table.  
  
During dinner Marguerite gave them all a play-by-play of what happened that afternoon with a little help from Veronica. They all laughed, imagining Marguerite frantically putting the disguise together. It really was a brilliant plan. After dinner Marguerite and Veronica cleared the table and did the dishes. While they were doing the dishes Veronica took the opportunity to properly thank Marguerite.  
  
"Marguerite, thank you for your quick thinking and rather gutsy actions. To tell you the truth, I didn't expect you to be able to get me out of there on your own. I owe you my life."  
  
"Think nothing of it. We're even now."  
  
"Even for what?"  
  
"Well I sold you for jewels once, and now I bought you back. So we're even." Veronica burst out laughing and Marguerite soon followed.  
  
The rest of the evening the explorers sat in the great room, around the fire and talked, told stories, and enjoyed each other's company. For now at least, the plateau was paradise and they were going to enjoy it. Somewhere in the distance a t-rex roared as if to remind the comfortable family that paradise never lasts long.  
  
The End 


End file.
